Anyway, done writing the portion of the update that ate up all of those omake bonuses. Now I need one of you to roll a d100 for your Willpower check to see if you can multiform and do the other things in the winning vote.
I have ruled previously that willpower is unaffected by such traits. Everything that feeds into it is in the Willpower folder. It does not count as utter bullshit, no.
FOR THOUSANDS OF YEARS I LAID DORMANT. WHO HAS DISTURBED MY - Oh it's you.
Ummm, I honestly don't know what we're talking about. And I entirely forgot I actually had a cookie. So.... sure, use it if you want, I guess? I mean, I could leave and eat it for myself, but that seems spiteful at this point.
FOR THOUSAND OF YEARS I LAID DORMANT. WHO HAS DISTURBED MY - Oh it's you.
Ummm, I honestly don't know what we're talking about. And I entirely forgot I actually had a cookie. So.... sure, use it if you want, I guess? I mean, I could leave and eat it for myself, but that seems spiteful at this point.
[X] Emergency Multiform
-[X] Perform a Willpower Push to allow you use Multiform again.
--[X] If successful, have one depart the prison as swiftly as possible. Call Dad in and let him know what's going on.
-[X] Ping. With your ki sense, you're pretty sure this'll let you sense almost anybody in this prison, suppressing or not, but if there are other attackers, they'll know for certain that you're onto them, if powering up didn't do it already.
-[X] Rush to the other prisoners. You're not letting these people die, whatever the reason. If you weren't willing to kill them in a battle, you're not willing to let somebody do it in cold blood.
--[X] IT to them and raise PL up to 15 million.
-[X] Guards don't just vanish without the people in charge noticing, and the staff areas are a good place from which to control a prison. Head there to see if you can find the person behind this, or a way to initiate a lockdown.
Prison Fight
Your mind whirls. You consider all of the angles. You debate. You act.
You firm up your will, ready to try and force a multiform even though you know it's exhausted- Omake Bonus activates.
-remember that multiform is a colossal infohazard and you're standing in front of several aliens, and promptly turn to stride out of the hallway. They shout after you.
You don't have time for this.
People are going to get hurt. I don't have time for everything I want to do. I need to be able to split this up. I don't care if I'm tired in some way that nobody seems to be able to explain. I've been tired before. I'm not letting that stop me now. Willpower Push: DC 80, rolled 30+43+10(Macros cookie)=83. Pass.
You feel your perspective splitting with a wrenching feeling that doesn't exactly feel great, but you ignore it, focusing on what you want each form to achieve. Even as you begin to split, you bring your fingers up to your forehead -- with only a mental cringe at the realization that if it weren't for your earlier catch on how much of an infohazard multiform was, you'd even now be flashing a Yardrati technique that Son Goku showboated all over the galaxy to the friendly scouts.
vipvipvip
* * *
You drop out by the exit, having thrown yourself away from the scouts. Even as you land, you send out a ping-
-PING-
Your eyes widen as the ping returns off of two signatures directly to either side of you, and you hurl yourself to the side as more gas grenades land at your feet, bursting into clouds of noxious smoke.
The gate guards advance on you, desperate expressions on their faces. The Vegetan goes for a grab. Both of them are still in Masque, flaring at around six million.
Your eyes, wide in shock, flash nearly shut in pure outrage. You slam to a halt and throw your arms wide.
"HAAAAAAAAA!"
BANG Kakara vs. Guards [Ki Control vs. Team Fighting]: 172 vs. 56.
Your aura blasts out of your body at fifteen million, tossing the two women back like leaves in a storm. Before the Vegetan woman can even set her feet, you rocket in and sweep them out from under her before blasting her into the nearest wall with a pulse of undifferentiated ki. She collapses to the ground in a groaning heap, and you whirl on your Clanmate.
"You dare..." you seethe, stinging at the betrayal.
She catches her toes on the ground, comes to a halt, and lunges back in. Classic Goku style. Kakara vs. Guard [Dueling vs. Dueling]: 201 vs. 75.
You counter with a simple punch and let her run her own stomach into it. She gags, and you hurl her into her partner where she lies. They both go tumbling in a tangle of limbs and don't rise.
Still fuming, you yank open the doors and walk outside. DAD!
You can feel his astonishment at the sudden force of the contact. Wha- Kakara?! What is it? What's wrong?
Rebels in the prison! you reply. They tried to use grenades of knockout gas on me. I think they're trying to kill the scouts!
There's a moment of silence.
And then the sounds from the tournament grounds go silent as the air turns gold and your father's ki fill the air with rage.
* * *
You drop out next to the the corridor housing the scouts you're trying to protect -- all in one wing, thank the kais -- and ping.
pingpingping
You feel your return and the returns from the others. You feel One's shock and fury at the two guards attacking her. She's in no danger. You feel Three immediately start conducting maneuvers as someone in the staff areas tries to flee. She'll be fine.
You feel the team of five traitors outside. You charge forward without a word, even as the door to the cell block opens. Kakara vs. Traitors [Crowd Fighting vs. Team Fighting]: 78 vs. 84. Omake bonus activates.
These are not warriors experienced in the use of their Masques, and it shows. You are vastly more powerful than they, vastly more comfortable. You move with the ease of somebody who knows this body like her own, while they stumble over small differences at every other step.
Yet even so, there are five of them.
As you blur out through the door, the team is already in motion, the man nearest the door lunging back as the rearguard whirls with a blast in hand. You strike it off to the side and lunge forward, but the guards on the flanks collapse in towards you, bracketing you in a cage of limbs. You blast one away, turn to block another, and then lurch into the ground as a third hammers into you from behind, slamming you to the ground.
You growl and tumble, avoiding smashing through the paving stones of the prison floor and instead rolling to your feet. The instant you do, the one who had been standing at the door kicks at your face. Your catch it and yank him off balance, but before you can capitalize on that the others come in from the sides and you need to release him to defend yourself. You give ground to avoid being encircled, blasting them off of their feet whenever they try to flank you, but there's only so much room and soon enough your back brushes against the wall-
Something in you snaps. Your jaw sets, and your power level climbs in between heartbeats.
The leader comes in with a wild haymaker -- stupid, were he facing you alone, but well-set-up in this setting -- and howls as his knuckles shatter on your forehead.
"You know what?" you say, foot planting against the wall as your power level peaks past 50 million. "I think I'm done here."
You don't even punch him. Instead you opt to blow, lightly, on his face.
The cyclone tosses him into the opposite wall like a ragdoll, and you spin, taking the legs out from the other two immediately neighboring you. You let the momentary surge ebb, its purpose done. No need to be too flagrant with it, after all -- if Meerak can feel the side effects from your father's movements at one million clearly enough to get an accurate picture of his strength, you see no need to risk giving him more, doors or no to deaden the effects. No, fifty million, for just a flash, faster than you'd bet even these idiots could detect while you were hitting them with it, and then back on down with advantage in hand to continue the fight-
And then a streak of golden light tears across your vision as your father thunders into the prison at full power and smashes them all into unconsciousness.
* * *
You drop out in the staffing areas, near the center, and ping-
pingpingping
You take in the data from the others. Between the three of you, you can sense everything in the prison.
Including one power level at a measly twenty thousand, not even fast enough to even begin panicking at your sudden proximity and power. You lunge in- Kakara vs. Sorcerer On Readied Ground [Dueling vs. Magic]: 182 vs 537. crunch
You blink from your new position under several feet of stone. Wha...?
Your eyes widen. You moved in. Figure in a black cloak. Glowing circle. Thrust vanishing. Floor rapidly approaching.
Sorcerer.
You ignite your aura and let the ground explode upwards around you. A yelp sounds from somewhere in the storm, and you float up, aura flaring.
A woman in the customary black robe of an Exile Sorcerer is in the middle of stumbling back, an array of wards surrounding her. The hood has fallen off of her face. She's pretty old -- in her Masque, her hair is going grey at the temples.
Your fingers flash up to frame your face. "Taiyoken!"
LIGHT
The Sorcerer yelps again as her eyes stop working.
You take a moment to survey the situation. The woman has some shrapnel wounds from the exploding floor. She's blinded.
Her hands are already flipping through several hand seals, even as she grits her teeth against the pain.
You don't feel like letting her finish, and fire a ki blast at her. Kakara vs. Sorcerer With Readied Shield [Ki Manipulation vs. Magic]: 123 vs. 94.
A glittering shield pops up in the path of your blast and shatters, fragments twisting in the air, but the blast itself is expended and the woman untouched. She finishes the hand seal. "Recall," she gasps.
She blurs, zipping right past you on her way towards the exit.
Your eyes widen in fury and you give chase. Kakara vs. Sorcerer [Flight vs. Magic]: 83 vs. 31.
She's fast, certainly. But as you follow in her wake, something becomes clear: she is not in control of her trajectory at the moment. You're pretty sure that at her power level she's not even capable of tracking her surroundings.
Your fingers flash to your forehead.
vip
As you come out of the Transmission, you spin, your leg lashing out at chest height.
The Sorcerer slams into it, limbs flying and eyes bugging out as she loses all the air in her body and, swiftly, consciousness. She collapses to the ground, limbs splayed. You take a gasp of air, only just realizing that you had been holding it.
Then you feel your father tearing through the prison at full power -- before, mercifully, dropping down the instant his opposition is defeated -- and One coming back in through the gates. A flash of telepathy ensues between you and the others, you-
vip
reappear to see your father turning to the three of you, and-
* * *
-you blink upon reformation, feeling an entirely spiritual ache from the exertion of forcing multiform again. "Ow."
Dad promptly lifts you off of the ground, squeezing the air from you, and pulls you close into his chest.
You flinch. "Oof- Dad, I'm fine-!"
"Just...quiet," he says. "For a moment."
You subside, not really feeling any urge to resist the contact.
The attack has been dealt with, and no further breaches in the Masquerade happened. You and your father have reunited in the main halls of the prison.
What will you do in the aftermath of this attack? This describes the overall focus of your activities over the remainder of this day and the next couple, not a comprehensive list; "Multiform to choose everything," is thusly not an option. You will in reality doing all of these in some capacity.
[ ] You will closely follow the investigation of what happened here, paying close attention and making special effort to contribute to the investigators' eventual findings.
[ ] You will return to the tournament and put on a good show for the people. Nothing bad happened, see? You're smiling and everything! All is well.
[ ] You will abscond from the Hall and just...not. Can you not? You'd really like to just not for a little bit. No more saiyans, no more nobility, no more intrigue, just...not.
[ ] Write-in. TWO-HOUR MORATORIUM. THIS VOTE IS NOW CLOSED.
Y'all had a few slip-ups with opsec in this one. If it weren't for that omake bonus...*points to custom title*
Granted, a more merciful QM might not have decided that you were voting to do these things in front of the scouts, no. But the IT action -- using it to get to the scouts you're trying to protect -- well, that one was the one that triggered the bonus. If you didn't have that bonus, Kakara would have dropped out right in front of them. And as long as I was using the bonus anyway, it seemed as good an excuse as any to drive in the point further with the other actions.
Good news, though -- if things continue as they presently are, Kakara will soon gain a trait which will shift the burden of opsec a little bit away from away from you all. If.
Running this update revealed a bit of unnecessary bloat in the combat engine for me, so you can expect to see numbers shift a lot in future updates as I rebalance how I keep books behind the scenes. I had a few test cases here, which is why some of the rolls may seem inconsistent (not to worry, none of the changes affected results, much less negatively; this will be a very cosmetic rebalancing, streamlining the mass of variables I need to track in each combat exchange as opposed to how advantages work).
Anyway, I hope you've enjoyed this little interlude! The next update will wrap up the tournament, and then it's on with the year! See you all next time!
[ ] You will abscond from the Hall and just...not. Can you not? You'd really like to just not for a little bit. No more saiyans, no more nobility, no more intrigue, just...not.
Leaning towards this. Even though I really want to see all of Cynthia's fights.
